Police to Use Handheld Narcotic Analyzers From Tonight

Hyderabad: For the first time in the state, the city police, in collaboration with the narcotics bureau, will subject drug suspects to handheld narcotic analysers from December 31.

This was stated by the city police commissioner Kothakota Sreenivasa Reddy, who pointed out that the narcotics bureau had tested the equipment and the results were found accurate. Drug users and addicts have no chance of getting away after committing crimes, Reddy told Deccan Chronicle here on Saturday.

“Chief minister A. Revanth Reddy has called for a drug-free state and we are determined to work towards achieving it. We have recently tested new analysers and the results have been quite encouraging. TSNAB has over a dozen analysers”, Reddy said.

Officials from law and enforcement, TSNAB and police commissioners B.
Sudheer Babu and Avinash Mohanty are also keen to eradicate the drug menace, he said. Handheld analysers will be seen in the hands of officers involved in checking those driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, who will be dealt with accordingly, the commissioner said. Establishments selling/serving liquor or organizing events have been directed to strictly follow the rules with regard to their respective closing times or face prosecution.

He asked cab and auto drivers not to demand or collect extra money from the revellers heading home. “We are coordinating with HMRL and urging them to extend timings of Metro Rail services for the convenience of those celebrating the dawn of the New Year,” Reddy said. He said that they have intensified their operations to track the overseas-based foreign drug mafia, which is supplying cocaine, heroin, brown sugar and opium after huge quantities of these deadly drugs, especially those originating in Afghanistan.

“We have recently conducted a meeting with narcotics officials from Mumbai and other states. It was decided to break the supplying chain first,” a senior police officer from TSNAB said. “It's not a one-night job. We are working on a very different strategy to identify the suppliers. It may take time but our police will make the twin cities drug-free, the commissioner said.

The police took the drug menace more seriously after the raid on Pudding & Mink Pub on April 3 last year when TSNAB officials rounded up 148 suspects, including 31 women, and seized around 4.6 grams of cocaine.

“It was a high-profile case and some of them managed to get away. At that time, the functioning of narcotic analyzers made in the UK and Germany were demonstrated before us," a police officer said. Though the handheld analysers are too expensive, the agencies highlighted the need for more such equipment.